Chapter 241Simple Speed

This was the moment. Well, alright, not quite yet. First we had to go to the factory, then we had to challenge the other openly and see who they would allow to fight. And of course see if they would cheat somehow.

Yet... The calmness that Nuru and Hitori had given me was still within me. The others saw it too.

Anyway, first the walk to the factory.

"You're much calmer than earlier, Amy." Khuna sounded happier for it.

I nodded. "Nuru told me a very nice dream."

"And you cuddled with Hitori?" Khuna asked with a smile.

"I'm innocent!"

She giggled. "I'm sure you are."

Kai adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. It wasn't too big and it looked like it was made for a laptop, folder or something. It did look rather odd and I felt myself wonder what he would do with it once we were there and what was in it. He looked back at me as I was still gazing at it and he smiled.

"Wondering what I've got in here?"

I nodded.

"Well, it's partly a secret. At least I'm glad you can't smell it. Of course I've taken a backpack that looks like a laptop bag as they probably know me as a bit of a geek."

It made sense but it was still funny enough to make me smile. "Go on."

He shrugged. "Little else to go on about. Khuna and Valerie will help me set them off when the moment is right. It's mostly your show."

I looked at Valerie. "Can I try... that thing?"

She shook her heard. "Not unless you really have to. It made you faint right after, last time. If even one of them sees you do it, you'd more vulnerable than ever."

I hung my head a little. "I guess you're right." I looked up and smiled again. "I guess it's up to my speed and strength after all."

Khuna looked at me. "Amy, did you ever push yourself further with speed?"

That was an odd question. "How do you mean?"

"Well..." She suddenly moved toward me and hugged me much, much faster than a human could. "Like that... But even faster. Maybe you could move even faster than the other vampires could see..."

She let the value of that sentence hang in the air as she released me again. It rolled around in my head, playing tricks with my idea of reality until I finally thought I could grasp the real meaning. Our eyes aren't that fast, I remembered, we see the light coming into it but only register it a few times per second. But do vampire eyes see faster as well as better?

I wished she had told me about this before. But it was something I might want to put to the test right now. "Alright... Let's see if you can follow me now."

There was no one around at this hour, it was safe to try. I stood still for a moment, closing my eyes in concentration. Then I opened them again and sprinted, suddenly, to the other side of the street. For that blind moment, everything moved incredibly slow. I knew I couldn't keep it up for very long, but it was like punching. In short, swift moment, you could move very fast indeed.

It wasn't fast enough, however. Though it took them half a second to 'follow' me with their eyes. They'd seen me, or a streak of me, go in that direction. Maybe that was the problem with eyes, this fast meant you could not see it precisely, but the blur of movement was enough to follow me.

So it was fast enough for a quick punch, but not fast enough to escape unseen.

All three of them looked in awe. "That was fast."

I shook my head. "Not fast enough." I looked to both sides and crossed the street again, walking normally this time.

Valerie smiled. "We couldn't exactly see you though."

"But could you see where I went?"

They all nodded.

"It was a plan anyway, it doesn't cost me as much energy as that image thing. Maybe this will work for long enough. But I have to take into account that one of them might be quite fast as well."

Valerie shrugged. "This will be a night of improvisation then."

I nodded. "We should do fine then." I winked.

We arrived at the factory not many steps later. It was everything I hoped for.

It was perfect.